


Chemical Reaction

by Gildedmuse



Category: Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog
Genre: Gen, High School, Niche Fandom Fic, Origin Story, Originally Posted on LiveJournal, Pre-Canon, that's not my name
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-30
Updated: 2019-04-30
Packaged: 2020-02-10 03:27:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,421
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18651943
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gildedmuse/pseuds/Gildedmuse
Summary: One day, the world will pay for the hurt and suffering it has caused. First, though, Billy has to take it over. Also, manage to pass high school science even though Mr. Brinkston has stuck him with the worst lab partner ever. But that world domination thing? It's second on the list.





	Chemical Reaction

**Author's Note:**

> [Originally posted to LJ in 2009]

**Chemical Reaction**

Billy is in no way amused.  
  
"So, you like, really get all this stuff, huh Bradley?"  
  
With his lips pursed and his eyes down, Billy tries to make a show of snapping his gloves on. Let the moron think he's too distracted by the actual assignment to give him an undo attention.  
  
The only failing in Billy's diabolic scheme? Persistence doesn't require intelligence. Also, being poked in the should is really beginning to get irritating. Well, correction. To say it's already gotten irritating and quickly moving onto full out aggravating. "Billy. And yes," he grumbles, trying to move away from the prodding finger when he couldn't actually leave his desk area. "Yes, I 'get' this 'stuff'."  
  
"Well, that's... smart."  
  
It does not sound like a complement.  
  
Billy tries not to say anything else, and it's not because he cares what this over sized idiot thinks of him. Billy doesn't get into the whole high school hierarchy. It's a flawed system, implemented by those who would stand no chance of succeeding if it weren't for their lucks and ability to chuck a ball across a field. They keep everyone worried about their statues within the school so that everyone is so consumed with the idea of being cool that they never achieve any actual thinking.  
  
No, Billy doesn't care about the popularity contest that practically runs this school. He doesn't care about any system where guys like this are at the top. This guy is the size of a gorilla and probably so full of testosterone and self confidence he doesn't have any room left for much of a brain. He has everyone at the school oh-so impressed with him just because he's got some muscles and hair on his chest.  
  
Billy doesn't have either, but he does have a nose. One which is easily broken. So that's the real reason he's keeping himself quiet. No need to end up in the nurse's office. Again.  
  
Since he's trying not to say something, afraid of what will slip if he does open his mouth, Billy tries a few other methods of communication. He starts by actually looking the other boy in the eyes - hard when this kid is freakishly tall and, plus, Billy's always heard it's dangerous to make direct eye contact with animals - and pointed adjusting his goggles.  
  
The idiot just stares back at him, watching and not not catching on at all to Billy's point. Mostly he's just staring, probably thinking that Billy blinks too much. Everyone says that, but it's only because idiots like this try and look at him for so damn long and Billy can't... Well, whatever. Probably, he should have known that subtle wouldn't cut it. "You need your goggles on."  
  
"What?" The other boy picks up the second pair of goggles at their station. "These silly things?" He snorts, tossing them carelessly behind him. A girl shrieks and some kid is left trying to keep his test tubes from splattering all over the floor. "I don't think so, Benji."  
  
"Billy."  
  
"I don't need any of your funny looking glasses. I can see just fine." It's clear for the look on his face that the dimwitted jock actually means this, and that he might even be gloating about it. Like he's all that special because he's got good eyes.  
  
"They're not for-" What is he doing? Here is a boy who has played right into the failed high school system of jocks and nerds, where the ability to use logic and reason actually make you less popular. Billy sighs, and he knows he's probably blinking way too much out of frustration. "Yeah, fine. Whatever."  
  
If the boy hears what Billy mutters under his breath, he doesn't call him on it. "So what is it we're doing here, Brady?"  
  
"Billy." In a perfect world, the kind that Billy would make, this kind of guy wouldn't have even made it to high school. He'd already have been taken out and working some highly physical job where little thinking was necessary. It wouldn't be pointless. He'd be helping society by taking a job beneath anyone of Billy's intelligence, and instead of strutting around school like he is so amazing he'd actually be making a contribution to this beautiful new society. Plus, he would never, ever be Billy's lab partner.   
  
You know, in a perfect world.  
  
"Well..." Billy pushes up his goggles again and starts reaching around to set their project into motion. "Mr. Brinkston wants us to create a chemical reaction and weigh out the remaining - Are you listening?"  
  
Alright, fairness, asking a question like that to someone who clearly isn't listening and then expecting and answer would be rather stupid. Not, you know, terribly stupid but certainly a little. Billy is not being listened to. Not unless this mindless high school drone had the ability to flirt with the girls next to them and listen at the same time.  
  
He's assuming that multitasking in that way is entirely out of this guy's ability.  
  
The girls seem to be listening, though. Not to Billy, of course, but to all these cheesy lines the guy next to him is throwing out. How can they even stand sitting there while he's saying such stupid, predictable lines about how wonderful he is. Did people really find this stuff cool?  
  
Apparently they did. Which just goes to show you, Billy's perfect world is at least a million times more brilliant than this one.  
  
Just leave him, Billy decides, and goes about doing the project on his own. It's kid stuff, anyway, and Billy finishes in just a few minutes what is suppose to take all class. Of course, the teacher probably hadn't expected anyone as bright as Billy. He probably hadn't expected anyone to do the work at all.  
  
That leaves him with twenty minutes to use on his own, and a whole bunch of chemicals that the teacher isn't watching. His mom won't let him have his own chemical set all because that one incident, and how she still can't get the green circle off the ceiling. Parents could be so repressive for a growing genius.  
  
Anyway, with all this time to himself, Billy figures he might as well try out a few things he's been looking to experiment with. They aren't dangerous, and it isn't like anyone is paying attention to the quite, smart kid enough to notice what he's up to. He'll just play around with a few things, make some notes...  
  
"So?" Billy winces, nearly dropping way more of one chemical into the mix when a heavy hand lands on his shoulder. "Everything done, Brian?"  
  
"It-" Billy tries to glare at first and then - whoa. That smile that the guy is giving him sort of throw him off. It's one of those really big smiles, so confident and unquestionably good looking because the guy just knows he is, and, well, - whoa.  
  
When Billy gets his world he is going to outlaw those types of smiles. He isn't entirely sure about the logistics of that legislation, but that something he can always figure out after he's taken over the world. There will probably be plenty of time for that after high school.   
  
"It's Billy." Where had his voice gone? Why can't he ever speak or, well, even look at someone like this guy whenever they talk? It isn't like he's that wonderful, it's all just in the collective mind of the high school and, let's face it, their collective mind is about as bright as this idiot himself. So what is it that makes Billy get so nervous he has to turn his eyes down to the table. "And, yeah, we- Hey, hey, don't touch that!"  
  
This is why you can't leave animals and science projects alone. It's an important lesson Billy learned in fifth grade with his dog, Jekyll, and one he is relearning now. He pulls the rack of test tubes away just as the big oaf next to him flicks his finger against the glass.  
  
"Hey, whoa there, Kevin," the guy answers, holding his hands up and chuckling. Like Billy is being amusing! This guy is trying to ruin everything and even has the nerve to go and laugh at him when Billy stops him from making a mess! "How hard can this stuff really be, right?"  
  
"Oh, for God's sakes!" Billy is blinking like mad now, so upset that he lets go of the test tubes and waves his hands about. Too upset to make proper gestures. "It's Billy. BILLY. How difficult is that? And for your information these chemicals can be-"  
  
It's too late. Billy got so caught up in snapping that he forgot to guard the chemicals, and this... this simple minded tool gets bored with listening to Billy and picks up one of the tubes, just mixing it with the first thing he sees without even looking at the labels and... Well...  
  
Billy had never actually seen an exposition until that point.  
  
The reaction is a bright silver flash, and Billy is rather sure the only reason he doesn't go blind is his goggles. They don't save him from being knocked back into the opposite wall of the room, crumbled up beneath a pill of paper and shattered test tubes.  
  
"I'm..." He coughs, grabbing onto the side of an overturned desk to lift himself up. "I'm alright," he announces weakly, waving some of the smoke from his face and wondering why no one seems to be coming over to comfort him.  
  
Oh.  
  
Well... Oh.  
  
Billy had been throw against one side of the classroom, his lab mate flew the other direction. Right out the now very broken window, down the five stories to the parking lot bellow. No one is speaking, no one is moving at all. Every set of eyes in the room is on that shattered glass.  
  
Oh.  
  
Billy looks around at his fellow classmates. Most of them look to be in shock, and some of the girls are even crying. Every now and then someone will look back at him and, well, it isn't his fault he wants to say. He didn't.. He told him not to touch! If that idiot had just listened to him!  
  
Then again, maybe this is for the best. Billy has to repeat the idea in his head a few times as he moves across the room. No one else seems to be able to move, so it's going to have to be Billy that looks down there and sees what's left. Maybe this is for the best. That guy, he is exactly what is wrong with high school. After this incident, they'll all be forced to understand how powerful intelligence can be. They'll forget about him soon enough, and get on with their lives. Better lives, too, when they decide that instead of worshiping some brainless tool that it's people like Billy that deserve their attention and respect.  
  
Yes, Billy realizes, turning from the window to survey his peers, letting them have a good look at their new leader. Yes, this is for the best.  
  
"Oh my God!"  
  
Billy hadn't expect them to embrace him so quickly, but already one of the girls is running towards him, crying and smiling at the same time. Wow. Being popular happens fast.  
  
"You're alright!" The girl streams right by him, and not just her. The whole class is moving again, and it's like Billy isn't even there. Everyone is smiling or gasping or generally acting like it's the coming of the second savior and what the hell is going on here?  
  
"Well, of course I am." Billy spins around and... Oh, God, this can't be good.  
  
"How are you doing that?" One of the boys leans out the window, waving his hand beneath the other boy who just stands there. Stands right outside the window, hovering in the air. He isn't scratched up at all and he's... Did Billy mention about the flying? "What did you do, man!"  
  
The boy looks down as if he only just noticed, but he's smiling so much Billy knows that isn't true. This is just another chance for him to show off. "Just good with science, I suppose," he says, winking at his adoring masses and giving the most practiced sounding laugh. A sound that everyone goes right along with as they fawn over him for doing nothing. Nothing but making a mess of Billy's experiments and getting lucky with some unknown chemical reactions!  
  
This.. This is horrible! This is worse than horrible. Suddenly this ape goes from popular to more popular and Billy is standing there in the middle of the class room, mouth hanging open and not even Mr. Brinkston is paying him any attention. "But.. But it was my experiment," he says to the whole group of no one listening to him. "He just.. He just messed it up is all."  
  
It's hard to get heard over the sound of a classroom full of kids mindlessly following the coolest looking idiot. This, Billy decides, this is it. His fist clench up, and he pulls his goggles off (never mind the raccoon look he has now that his face is mostly covered in silver ash). This is the last time he's going to let any pretty man get the better of him because of pure luck and stupidity. Mark his words, William Edward Lawson would not stand by while -  
  
"Oh!" Mr. Brinkston jumps back from the window as the end of class bell rings. "I guess that means class dismissed..." Most students are already walking out, following along after their new favorite hero. Like flying and apparent invulnerability are all that impressive. That doesn't take cleverness or elegant planning at all!  
  
"Mmm..." The teacher watches his class empty out, just sort of shrugging off the entire deal with a student developing freakish super powers. Weirder things had happened. "Should probably look into getting this mess cleaned up, too. Billy, you don't have anyone to sit with at lunch, do you?"  
  
"No... No, no one. I mean, well, yeah, I do but.. I can help." He couldn't just let Mr. Brinkston clean up the whole mess by himself, and it isn't like Mr. Cool Guy and his New Exciting Powers were about to help. Not when there were mindless hordes of students to be impressed with him. That just left Billy.  
  
Taking over the world and proving his point is just going to have to wait until Thanksgiving break.


End file.
